itâ€™s summertime! safe travels and adventures to all!

Issue 1, Summer 2008 An exploratory learning and teaching publication Accessing Language Using Online Chatbots Ben Lehtinen 3 Emerging Selves in Systems of Professional Development Kristjan Bondesson 6 Lesson Plan: Communicative Adjectives: Talking Blood Types in the Classroom Damian Rivers 8 Comparing One’s Self to Others in Professional Development Tim Murphey & Ben Fenton Smith 15 Teachers Observing Teachers Erik Fritz 16 Beyond English Skills Kaori Kijima 17 Kanda Club Corner: Hula Club Interview Ami Sato and Nick Yates 20 Op-Ed: Critically Thinking Students “Respectfully” Challenge a US Presidential Candidate Tim Murphey and Chris Stillwell 22 A Sustainable Campus Richard Allen 23 The Efficiency Column 28

It’s summertime! Safe travels and adventures to all!

PeerSpectives Issue 1

Editorial Team Issue #1 Managing Editors: Tim Murphey & Chris Stillwell Readers: Ben Lehtinen, Olivia Limbu, Rachael Ruegg, Nicholas Yates WebMaster: Damian Rivers Layout: Jo Mynard Many thanks to Robert De Silva, Yasushi Sekiya, and Michael Torpey for their suggestions and guidance.

Welcome to the first issue of PeerSpectives- Summer 2008 PEERSPECTIVES seeks views from everyone: students, teachers, and school staff. The aim is to encourage more collaboration and peering (verb: to treat those we work with, teach, and learn from as peers and to value their points of view). We can benefit from everyone’s ideas as we go about our learning and teaching, research, and professional/personal development. Furthermore, we can explore how we could improve our human conditions, around our own campus and more broadly in the world. In addition to the local population of Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan, PeerSpectives welcomes views and news from others in the net-o-sphere. PeerSpectives seeks short reflective, empirical, humourous, and opinionated articles discussing

• how we can learn, live and teach better

• how we can cross disciplinary, cultural, age, and other borders and reap the benefits of our

diversity (teacher-student collaborations welcome)

• what we do in learning and teaching and how we do it, with what tools or processes and with what results.

• how our educational endeavors intertwine with the rest of our lives and how we can meaningfully navigate ecological solutions.

• book reviews • et cetera… (an important

category) Got a new idea? Send it in. Got a question? Ask it. Did something new, strange, wonderfully awesome in class? Tell us about it. Submissions: This is an access publication for all those interested in experimental and experiential education. Note that nothing is automatically accepted; this is a peer edited and negotiated publication. Feedback and suggestions for improvement will be given. Please submit via email attachments with manuscripts single spaced in 12” Times, APA style, 4 pages max (about 2000 words), but the shorter the better, with a catchy title. This is meant to be read by busy teachers, so KISS (keep it short and simple). Next Submission Deadline November 10, 2008 going to press by December. Send attached files to [email protected] and [email protected]


Accessing Language Using Online Chatbots Ben Lehtinen Why chatbots? One of the major problems students face in their study and acquisition of language is finding access to it in a comfortable environment which suits their personality and interests in a meaningful manner. This is especially so when it comes to accessing language outside of classes such as during semester breaks. Students have an even more limited number of options in terms of readily available, low-cost alternatives that involve skills they need to practice to avoid delay or fossilization in linguistic development. Internet-based chatbots can offer students an interesting alternative to such passive activities as watching movies, reading books, writing personal journals or listening to their favorite target language music. Chatbots can also offer a stress-free medium for communicating in English. There are a wide array of sites such as discussion forums, video streaming sites or networking sites such as Facebook or Mixi, but students may feel apprehensive about commenting on classmates’ pages for fear of saying the

wrong thing. Chatbots also can serve as a scaffolding device for those who or are still in the early stages of their foreign language development or are terrified of interacting with people. Possibly the best part about chatbots is that a majority of them are free of charge, they can be accessed at anytime through the internet, and they will wait indefinitely while a student is using a dictionary to find a word – it’s the gift that keeps giving. Chatbots and artificial intelligence A chatbot (also known as talk bots, chat bots, or chatterbots) is an internet-based computer program designed to simulate an intelligent conversation. They have been around for over thirty years in limited capacities yet have been developing exponentially since inception. Though they may appear to interpret the user input, most just scan for keywords within the input and generate a reply with a similar wording pattern or the most matching keywords from a local database. Every year, the annual Loebner Prize competition is held which awards the chatbot that shows the highest level of artificial intelligence. For the Loebner Prize, a chatbot must undergo a Turing test in which a human judge is faced with two computer screens- one is a computer, the other is controlled by a human. A judge asks questions to the screens and based upon the answers, decides which screen is controlled by the human and which is the computer program (Fryer and Carpenter, 2006; Saygin, Cicekli, &

Evolution has exponential timing It'll be half as long 'Til the next breakthrough that Blows our minds It's up to humans to brave on with experimentation Move forth the species by using our imagination." -- “Evolution", by 311.


Akman, 2000). No chatbot to date has claimed first prize, as first prize would mean true artificial intelligence so the highest honor so far has been third prize. A study published in 2006 by Fryer and Carpenter involving 211 first and second year students which investigated the perceived usefulness of chatbots concluded that: (1) 85% of students reported feeling more relaxed interacting with a computer than a person even to the point that they preferred talking with a chatbot for 20 minutes rather than a human. (2) Chatbots will repeat material without hesitation and do not get bored or angry. (3) Some chatbots have a ‘voice’ which allows students to practice speaking and listening skills. (4) Students think that chatting with a chatbot is new, novel and interesting. (5) Students can access a chatbot anytime and a majority of them are free of charge. (6) Most chatbots are not designed to correct spelling, which promotes fluency in expression.

KUIS students’ reactions to chatbots I undertook a similar study on a smaller scale in 2007-08 involving 42 students ranging from lower-intermediate to advanced abilities. After receiving permission from participants, they were encouraged to tryout several chatbots including Jabberwacky, God, ALICE, and George and their initial reaction to chatting with artificial intelligence was amazement. None of the participants had ever heard of a chatbot and were generally surprised that there was such technology available for language learning on the Internet for free. Participants were instructed to interact with several chatbots then fill out a brief questionnaire rating themselves according to a simple Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree) as well as give any additional comments about their experience with chatbots (see figure 1 and 2). As participant numbers were low for this study, data and comments received should only be seen as an indicator of general student opinion concerning chatbots.

Figure 1 – Data Ave SD

I enjoyed chatting with chatbots. 3.86 .35 I will chat with chatbots again. 3.64 .58 I am comfortable chatting in English with chatbots.

3.79 .42

Chatbots can help me improve my English. 3.55 .55 Chatbots are a good way I can practice my writing.

3.86 .35

I am interested in learning more about chatbots 3.43 .74 In terms of directions for future research, I am currently investigating the long term effects of participant usage of chatbots in terms of

monitoring the level of interest, frequency of interaction and whether usage is either a trend or something more worthwhile.

Figure 2 – A selection of original comments from students


I’m glad to come here today and I’m happy to know about chatbots, its so useful for me. I will use chatbots in the future because I will take a TOEFL ibt Test. I use chatbots in the futre because it is interesting. Yes I though using chatbots are so funny. I liked God, he was smart and funny. I’d like to use chatbots to my child if I became a mother. Yes I do [want to use chatbots] I found my typing speed was really bad, so I want improve it! I didn’t know about A.I., so I’m glad now, and I was surprised at AI because they were really like human. I found it very useful to practice English. I will use chatbot to used to writing in English. I liked George, I think he is clever. I asked him to tell me his phone number and he ask me to tell him first.

Implications for learning As one can see from questionnaire results and comments, students have an overall positive outlook in interacting with chatbots. One student even commented that she would like to use chatbots with her children in the future. Such enthusiasm and interest is natural as the novelty factor of chatting with a computer is inescapable for a students’ first interaction with a new technological learning medium. Maintaining this enthusiasm towards using English has great potential for improving students’ confidence in interacting in English, and extensive interaction could even be seen as preparation for real interactions using English. As for getting students to use chatbots outside of class, one practical application is to have students review what they covered in class with a chatbot, copy the script into Microsoft

word and hand it in as an ‘extensive chatting’ assignment. A follow up to this would be to share the transcripts in class and have students brainstorm additional questions pertaining to the subject to ask in the next session. The transcripts could also be analyzed and used as a tool for identifying and correcting grammar mistakes. Another application would be to create a classroom chatbot that is designed and used by its creators. Chatbots can be programmed using AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), which is a free, open-source standard used for creating or ‘training’ chatbots. AIML is similar to HTML language with a design principle of minimalism and anyone who can design a webpage can also create a chatbot (Fryer and Carpenter, 2006). This being said, not only could students develop their own language abilities, they could learn about programming, killing two birds with one stone. This is an ambitious project, but what better way for students to


autonomously access language? Regardless of their structured or unstructured use, AI chatbots have great potential for use inside and outside a language classroom as they allow learners to practice language and develop confidence in an individualized stress-free manner at their own pace and preference. Instructors have great potential to be part of developing AI and chatbots, resulting in a new revolution in language education and learning taken from the pages of science fiction and made into reality. On-line resources A.I Hub http://www.aihub.org/index.php A site dedicated to news about AI developments, chatbot downloads, chat forums and resources A.L.I.C.E. -- http://www.alicebot.org/ Contains information on AIML and two chatbots A.L.I.C.E. and GOD Jabberwacky -- http://www.jabberwacky.com/ Website of chatbot developer Rollo Carpenter also containing chatbots George and Joan References

Buchanan, (2002). Brief history of artificial intelligence. Retrieved on May 27, 2008, from http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AITopics/BriefHistory Fryer, L. ( 2006). Bots for language learning. The Language Teacher. 30(8). p. 33-34. Fryer, L. & Carpenter, R. (September, 2006). Emerging technologies: bots as language learning tools Language Learning & Technology. 10(3). pp. 8-14. Graddol, D. (2000). The future of English. The British council. Retreived on May 27, 2008, from http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-elt-future.pdf Hexum N.L. & Martinez, D.V. of 311 (August 5th 1997). Evolution. On Transitor. Macon, Georgia: Capricorn Records. Saygin, A.P, Cicekli, I & Akman, V. (2000). Turing test: 50 years later.

Minds and Machines, 10, 463–518, 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2008 from http://crl.ucsd.edu/~saygin/papers/MMTT.pdf

Emerging Selves in Systems of Professional Development Kristjan Bondesson Surely, the teacher himself must first begin to see. He must be constantly alert, intensely aware of his own thoughts and feelings, aware of the ways in which he is conditioned, aware of his activities and his responses; for out of this watchfulness comes intelligence, and with it a radical

transformation in his relationship to people and things. (Krishnamurti, 1973, p.65) Before addressing the opening quote, let me begin by acknowledging the fact that I am a freshman. This is my first semester to work for Kanda University


of International Studies (KUIS); this is my first semester to work for a university located within Japan; and moreover, this is my first semester to live and work in a foreign country. As such, it goes without saying that I should have plenty of things too reflect on in this short essay. However, I would like to dedicate the following text to reflecting on a commonly referred to issue in language teaching that I believe the opening quote eloquently frames. That is the role of self in teacher professional development. I have found it difficult to discuss common courses with colleagues. Many reasons can be attributed to this. In my professional experience, I always faced time constraints working for several institutions concurrently, dashing back and forth between them. I know that this scenario undoubtedly compromised time spent with colleagues while I was teaching within several departments. My current colleagues may ridicule me for saying so, but I think I may be grateful for the eight-hour work day. I now feel as if I am able to converse about matters concerning the courses we teach and education in general, quite unlike the scenario I allude to above. Doing so is learning about teaching and learning (Lyons and LaBoskey, 2002, p.2) which contributes to the dynamic processes one must undertake to develop a personal pedagogy. Imaginably most teachers would like to (re)define their beliefs and practices in this way even though they often must work from one lesson to the next. However at KUIS, the professional development and social activities provide a unique opportunity to reflect on teaching and other scholarly activities. I am excited to see

how these activities will be reflected in my teaching and research later on. KUIS is a think tank. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to explore issues related to language learning and teaching (LLT) through a variety of formalized mediums such as workshops and grants towards research. These are tremendous resources that let the mind run wild with ideas and that are mutually influenced by and influencing LLT. I found myself captured by the dizzying array of professional development services offered to teachers here and consequently forgot something very important: “I am teacher!” My department has established curricula to be used with the teacher’s discretion, yet I was not using my discretion. I failed to enact the belief that curricula are only as effective as teachers’ interpretation of them in consideration of his/her class participants. Jersild (1955) said that a search for meaning entails a search for the self (p.78) and in problematizing my courses and curricula I enact the important role of myself in the professional development system that exists here. KUIS is as fantastic a place for us to develop professionally as it is so for the students; this much is obvious. What is not obvious is that to realize the full potential of these professional development services, I need to continuously reflect upon my roles, because there are many here for me. Why write about such an intuitive topic as the role of self in professional development? Well, I think our beliefs are as instrumental as any services are in regards to professional development. In fact, systems serve to co-construct


our emerging selves as we can become interlocutors in the process of our own learning and professional development (Clark and Florio-Ruane, 2001, p.4). For me, I realize this in conversing about teaching and learning with my colleagues; exploring what works and does not work in my classes through journal writing; and sharing gained insights with others as is uniquely required by my job description. But, this surely starts with the teacher’s search for meaning, because it he/she who must first begin to see. References Clark, C. & Florio-Ruane, S. (2001).

Conversation as support for teaching in new ways. In C. Clark

(Ed.) Talking Shop: Authentic Conversation and Teacher Learning. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Jersild, A. (1955). When Teachers Face Themselves. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Krishnamurti, J. (1981). Education and the Significance of Life. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

Lyons, N. & LaBoskey, V. K. (2002). Why narrative inquiry or exemplars for a scholarship of teaching? In N. Lyons & V. K. LuBoskey (Eds.) Narrative Inquiry in Practice: Advancing the Knowledge of Teaching. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

LESSON PLAN - Communicative Adjectives: Talking Blood Types in the Classroom Damian Rivers Overview Communicative activities that are highly stimulating are always welcome in the language classroom. Creating activities which are culturally bound, relevant to the students’ immediate social environment, as well as possess the flexibility to account for a wide range of levels with minimum preparation are few and far between. The lesson presented here uses a simple, high-interest, culturally relevant concept which will allow students to communicate ideas and opinions, have fun, and get to know each other better whilst at the same time expand their vocabulary. I have been using this lesson for about eight years with a variety of students in a variety of situations. It has always served me well with all student feedback being positive in

nature. At KUIS I have incorporated this activity into my EIC1 class as a general icebreaker activity with new freshman and in my IC Writing class when constructing descriptive paragraphs. Especially within the writing class it refreshed the students' motivation as it moves the focus away from the more tiresome structural elements of paragraph construction and development. At the same time it is great for getting students to remember how to write topic sentences, main ideas and supporting sentences. This lesson is based on a strong core theme with which all students will be familiar, features only three sheets of A4, and can last for 90 minutes. At the same time, it gives the teacher maximum flexibility to modify the lesson without being overly prescriptive in nature.


Preparation The teacher will need to prepare a copy of the three single page handouts for each student. The handouts are printed on pages 13 and 14, and can also be downloaded from my website at <http://www.eapstudy.com/lesson/bloodtyping.html>. The handouts are intended to be used as single pages so it would be better not to double side or staple them when preparing for the lesson. In addition to the suggested deployment below these materials can be used in a number of different ways depending on student ability and time constraints (e.g., introducing adjectives in general / cutting out character definitions and using them like a quiz / cultural comparison of character assessment). It may also benefit the teacher, especially in lower level classes, to compile a list of commonly used adjectives with Japanese translations, although I do not advocate this within a communicative classroom and I have only ever done this with mature learners. There are much more productive ways of conveying meaning to the students than simple word for word translations. Deployment Stage 1

The teacher should begin by writing a general heading on the whiteboard such as ‘Character Assessment’ or `Personality Types`. The students should then be invited to comment on what they think they are going to talk about. The teacher must now try and elicit information from the group (e.g., what sort of class they are expecting, what character assessment is, how character can be measured, what type of characters there are, what type of character they have, what personality is, etc). If the students warm to the concept quickly, the teacher can invite them to

suggest some ways in which a person’s character can be predicted. At this point a student will usually mention one of the key points - Blood Type, Horoscope or the Chinese calendar. If the students are not so quick to latch on to these ideas the teacher should drop a few hints until they do. This elicitation is great skill-based English practice and is a valued part of the class. I would suggest that after 10 -15 minutes the teacher should have something along the lines of the following written on the whiteboard:

Character Assessment / Personality Types - Blood Types (A, AB, B, O) - Horoscope (Birth Month) - Chinese Calendar (Birth Year) It is vital to tell the student not to reveal their Blood Type, Horoscope or Chinese birth year to their classmates. All personal information should be kept a secret at this time and the teacher will have to stress this to the students in order for the lesson to be enjoyable. Deployment Stage 2 The teacher should now inform the students that they will be using one of these systems to assess their classmates' characters (this usually brings many nervous smiles and increases anticipation and suspense). The teacher should first give the students the handout entitled BLOODTYPE 1 and ask them to try to form an image of a stereotypical character based upon the different blood types. The teacher can assist students by giving them an additional list of adjectives to stimulate their thought processes or the teacher can ask them to think about how important blood types are in Japan. After about 15 - 20 minutes, students should


report their ideas to the class - either spoken aloud by individual students or presented as a group. The teacher or students can also write these ideas on the whiteboard as shown below. Again, the flexibility of this lesson allows the teacher to change the exact nature of this student presentation.

Stereotypes of Blood Type & Character - TYPE A: strong, confident - TYPE B : selfish, demanding - TYPE AB : extroverted, happy - TYPE O : relaxed, out-going Deployment Stage 3

After the students have finished reporting their activities, the teacher may wish to comment on the words on the board and check that all students understand each one. This clarification may also need to include some pronunciation work depending on the words produced. The teacher can then elicit some opinions from students on things that they agree or disagree with regarding the information on the whiteboard. After all of the students are clear, the teacher can then present the students with the handout BLOODTYPE 2. The students will now enjoy comparing what is written on the whiteboard to the `answers` on the second handout. The teacher can then comment on the similarities and differences between the student stereotypes and the answers on the second handout. This second handout features some difficult adjectives but rather than having students use a dictionary, the outgoing teacher can attempt to act out each adjective, showing the students what stubborn looks

like and demonstrating how to be sympathetic, nervous, generous, etc. When all the acting is over it is a good idea to make sure that students are familiar with the Japanese equivalent of each adjective, a few moments looking through their dictionaries usually ensures that understanding will no longer be an issue for the rest of the lesson. This allows students to focus on communicating and expressing opinions rather than worrying about the clarification of meaning. Some general phrases that I find helpful to introduce at this point are shown below (dependent on class level). It also helps to ask the students to look around the class at their fellow classmates and think about what kind of people are in the class.

- I agree with this because..... - I disagree with this because..... - I think that my strongest point is ..... - I think my weakest point is ..... - I would guess that he/she is a ..... - I would guess that he/she is blood type ...

It is also possible to introduce degrees of certainty in more depth and variety (e.g, I am positive that he/she is........ or I have no doubt at all that he/she is......). Deployment Stage 4

The teacher must now ask all the students to look at the handout BLOODTYPE 2 in order to analyze all of the adjectives used to describe the good character points only. Students will need to be told that they are not limited to any single blood type and that they should look at the whole handout. The students are then instructed to choose five adjectives from the paper that they feel best represent their own good points and rank them from


one to five. So for example, if a person thinks that their strongest character good point is kindness, then kindness would be written as number 1; if they think that they are very sensitive, then sensitive would be number 2 and so on until they have a list of their five strongest character points. This list must be kept a secret from the other students, as must their own blood type. The teacher should give the students the handout BLOODTYPE 3 for them to write down their top five good points (the top left portion of the third handout). When all of the students have written down their top five good points they need to find a partner. Putting people together who do not usually work together is a good idea. The teacher will then tell the students to sit opposite their partner. Whilst still hiding the paper, the students must ascertain the top five good points about their partner by making statements as outlined above. A typical scenario would go: STUDENT A: I would guess that you are a generous person. STUDENT B: Yes, I am a generous person. That is my 4th best point. Or STUDENT A: I am sure that you are an outgoing person. STUDENT B: Sorry, I am not an outgoing person. If the guess is correct, then student A will write down generous in the 4th place on the list of their partner’s good points (top right portion of the third handout). It is then the turn of student B to make a statement. This continues until one of the students guesses all five of the partner’s answers. A student who has all five correct answers can then have the chance to guess the partner’s blood type based on the five

good points attained. At this point the teacher can declare a winner and a loser and ask students whether they believe that blood types are a good way to judge a person’s character. When the class has finished this activity the teacher should have them sit opposite a new partner- pairing the winners with winners and the losers with losers works well. The teacher should then tell the students to repeat the same steps again but this time they are to choose their top five bad points. This creates an atmosphere of excitement and fear with student exchanges typically going like this:

STUDENT A: I am positive that you are a stubborn person. STUDENT B: No, I am not stubborn at all, why do you think that ? Or STUDENT A: I guess that you are a lazy person. STUDENT B: Yes, I am a lazy person, how did you know that ? Repeat the steps above when all students have finished the second part of the activity. When the students focus on the top five bad points it is always great fun, especially if students who do not know each other so well are paired together as they are reluctant to criticize their classmate. As a final lesson closer the students can be asked to guess the teacher’s blood type and to shout out some descriptive adjectives from their lists, but expect the worst! (copies of the activities are on pages 13 and 14)


Write a Book Review For PeerSpectives!!!

Writing book reviews can be a very rewarding endeavor and an easy way get

published. They are KISS (kept intentionally short and simple) for busy teachers and

they CIP (critically inform peers). We would love to see your favorite book reviewed

for PeerSpectives or perhaps one of the enticing ones below.

If you would like more direction look at Marilyn Kupetz’s chapter on writing

book reviews (chapter4) in Becoming Contributing Professionals, volume 1 of the

Professional Development in Language Education series on the PD bookshelf (edited by

Joy Egbert).

Dornyei, Z. (2007) Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative,

and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Goleman, D. (2006). Social Intelligence. NY, NY: Bantam

Larsen Freeman, D. (2008) Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics. Oxford, OUP.

Samuda, V. & Bygate, M. (2008). Tasks in second language learning. NY, NY: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Tapscott, D. & Williams, A. (2006) Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes

everything. NY: Portfolio Penguin

Tamm, J. & Luyet, R. (2004). Radical Collaboration. NY, NY: Harper Collins.

Or just go borrow a book off the professional development bookcase!


Comparing One’s Self to Others, or Writing Your Own History of Professional Development Tim Murphey Preface by Ben Fenton-Smith One of the most interesting books I have read is Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton. Here is a quotation that sums up the philosophy: If we are made to live in a draughty, insalubrious cottage and bend to the harsh rule of an aristocrat in command of a large and well-heated castle, and yet we observe that all our equals live as we do, then our condition will seem normal; regrettable, certainly, but not fertile ground for a sense of envy. If we have a pleasant home and comfortable job, however, but learn through ill-advised attendance at a school reunion that some of our old friends (there is no stronger reference group) are now living in houses larger than our own, bought on the proceeds of more enticing occupations, we are likely to return home nursing a violent sense of misfortune. (p.46) I don’t get envious of someone who is much older than me, much more senior to me, or of a completely different culture to me. Those people aren’t in my reference group. But what about those that are? Same age group, similar background. Can I resist the temptation to measure myself up against them? “I heard so and so is getting married.” “Did you know so and so published a book?” “So and so is living in a ritzy apartment these days.” Nasty thoughts. Bad thoughts. What’s this got to do with professional development?

………………………………………………….

We learn to learn from others, and in doing so we often compare ourselves with others. However, it can turn sour when the comparison creates negative judgments of ourselves. This can further produce an avoidance of the possibility of such comparison and

result in a hesitation to share ideas and views. In such a situation, professional development grinds to a stop. David Mayer (in Murphey, 2006 pp 107-8) describes this happening with his first-year students at a top-ranked university who suddenly found themselves among peers who were just as good as they were. He advised them to get rid of two limiting beliefs and get on with learning all they could from each other. The two limiting beliefs were 1) “Everyone else is better” and 2) “I am not top dog any more.” His advice to students was “Never compare yourself with others; compare yourself only with yourself.” How have you changed and progressed in the last year or so? What new risks are you taking? Teacher portfolios, for example, are great places to bring to light how we as teachers have learned and developed and to project into the


future – where do you want to be in your development in a year? Top dog? Well, we prefer to think more in collaborative metaphors. The truth is that we are in one of the most dynamically fertile environments for teacher study and research in the world – and we construct it and make of it what we will—together, not independently. It would be a shame not to join in for fear of not being as good as the next person, when in fact you make your colleagues what they are. We can judge our wealth, in professional development terms, according to the number of people we can collaborate with. And we construct our own paths of professional development on a roller coaster across our careers. At the end of the day, we owe a lot to the people we have had the good fortune to collaborate with and open our professional selves up to. It would be a shame not to have engaged for fear of not being up to it – you are up to it, just do it. Engage!

The Japanese have a wonderful koto waza in this regard: 聞くは一時の恥、聞かぬは一生の恥。 Kiku wa ittoki no haji, kikanu wa issho no haji. Asking is a moment’s embarrassment; not asking is a lifelong regret. When you are interested in collaborating with someone, ask. If they say they are too busy, ask another. Visit others’ classes, invite them to yours. Get help, give help, and be modestly the best teacher you can be – collaboratively. References de Botton, A. (2004). Status Anxiety. London: Penguin. Murphey, T. (2006). Language Hungry! Austria: Helbling Languages.

Teachers Observing Teachers Erik Fritz If somebody says they’re observing you, you immediately think: hey, stop observing me! And if you’re a teacher, the impulse to eschew those seemingly judgmental eyes can be even stronger. That observation collocates with dreaded and that it can be associated with performance reviews and even bonuses just adds fuel to the observation fire.

But let me, for a moment, entertain a provocative notion: teacher observations are not only beneficial but can be a crucial element to one’s own understanding of classroom dynamics and teaching practices. Of course, the process has to be done right. A paragraph of notes sent to you via email a few weeks after an observation will by no means elicit any epiphanies. There may be several “right” ways to observe, but I’m fairly certain that one of them is the method being used currently at KUIS in the Mentor


Development Program. I can testify from personal experience that it was a process unlike anything I have gone through with regard to talking about teaching practices and what goes on in the classroom while we’re “teaching.” Without going into too much detail, allow me to explain how the process works: first, three teachers agree to observe each others’ classes, with each teacher observing and being observed once; second, preferably within the same week of the observations so as to keep things fresh, the three teachers sit down for about 90 minutes and talk. What is so unique about this method is the post-observation discussion. Because these observations are being carried out by your peers, the discussion can be frank and low-pressured as it delves into areas that you wouldn’t normally discuss with administrators or parents who have observed your lesson. The other unique element of the post-observation

discussion is the addition of a third person, almost as a mediator, to give you feedback on how you talk to the other teacher. You may be thinking that this must be a session of black-slapping and congratulating, but while there were compliments being made, I gained a lot of insight from watching different styles of oral feedback and communication. We negotiated everything as a triad, talking about the lessons, our teaching practices, and sharing stories and ideas in a constructive and scaffolded manner. Learning from our peers by unlocking the doors of that inner sanctum we refer to as a classroom is the way forward in our profession if we want to really understand what’s happening while we’re busy teaching. For more information or to participate in peer teaching observations, contact Erik Fritz at [email protected] or Chris Stillwell at [email protected]

Beyond English Skills Kaori Kijima

The way teachers teach and interact with students reveals what kind of teachers they had when they were students themselves. Teaching is an important occupation in terms of influencing other people’s lives. Teachers can make such a strong impression, big enough to change a student’s life course, for the better or for the worse when they are at a crossroads. Some students may be impressed by their teachers and respect them much more than their parents and

view them as their role-models. Others completely lose interest in the subjects which are taught by their unfavorite teachers. I can fortunately say that I have met several great teachers here at KUIS and accordingly developed interest in learning English thanks to them.

It is often hard for teachers to spare time for students, especially outside of classes, let alone when the students are not in their classes. After all, teachers are also just people who struggle in their lives and it is understandable that


they would not welcome any additional requests from students. They can always say “It’s none of my business,” “It’s totally up to you,” or “After all, it is your life.” when students ask a question or seek advice, especially when these things apparently bring no benefit to teachers and waste their time. However, one of the ELI teachers I have met here at KUIS was different.

At first glance, he may appear to be a mere clown because he enjoys telling jokes to bring smiles to people’s faces. However, when a student needs help, he is always the best. He seems to think “How much and how many times can I help him or her” rather than “Until when and how many times must I help him or her.” For example; he used to have writing centre duty last year in the afternoons till four-forty. I still vividly remember that he always stayed with some students who needed help with writing even after his on-duty hours, every single week. His sometimes even stayed with students as late as 19.00 o’clock with a usual smile on his face. Moreover, he apologized for not having enough time to help those students who appeared late or who were not able to sign up for the writing center and asked them to bring their essays to his office the following day or sometime in the week. I was amazed and impressed by his kindness and hospitality because I knew it is not an easy thing to do because people always have outside lives.

Having seen his attitude, I asked him whether it was possible to see me sometime during vacations to check my essays. Of course, he could have rejected my requested because he was officially “off duty” during vacation,

and moreover, he was not my class teacher. To my great surprise, he kindly said “Oh, let’s meet then. I will put the sign-up sheet in front of my office and you can just put your name beside the time and date you would like to meet me.” At the end of each meeting, he’s the one who always said first “Ok, when shall we meet next time? How about on Tuesday next week…” I was deeply touched and impressed not only because he helped me with English study but also because he made the time for me each week.

The second teacher who deeply impressed me was one of the class teachers I had. He is exceptionally passionate about teaching, and what is more, never fails to give feedback to each student. For example, when students leave comments on Moodle, the online learning space where students and teachers communicate, he wrote back with comments such as “Thanks Kana,” “I am glad you find the lesson helpful.” for each student, regardless of the length of students’ comments, without fail. Even though, there were approximately 30 students in the class, he always left kind remarks and lots of smiley faces to us. It was my joy to check out what he would comment back to me and it kept my motivation high. I used to wonder how much more time he spent than the students for reading through their assignments and giving respective comments back, while preparing for his classes and dealing with his other tasks.

Additionally, he respects students’ opinions and encourages students to give feedback to his lessons. In addition, he started experimental feedback sessions for his classes with


interested students so that he could actually meet students’ needs and interests. Co-planning the class activities and materials obviously takes time for him because he has to meet with students and talk over what kinds of activities and materials would be beneficial for all the classmates. However, he always welcomes students’ new ideas and enjoys discussing our classes. Whenever I visit his office to talk with him, he always leaps out of his chair and says “Here is the material for the next class, have a look and please tell me what you think.” Last but not least, let me introduce one more excellent teacher who I will not forget the least. When he takes care of students’ writing he always turn the writing horizontal so that both of us can see it and encourages students to correct wrong word choice or grammatical mistakes by suggesting hints rather than automatically editing students’ writing. Personally I find his way of helping students with writing helpful. If my writing is corrected without my input, I would have to ask for explanations after all for the corrections which the teachers have made for me. Worse, I would not bother to think over about those mistakes after having my essay made error free and I would keep making the same wrong word choices or writing grammatical expressions incorrectly. Furthermore, when students ask him grammatical questions, he tries his best in explaining them by providing examples or even bothers to consult several grammar books instead of saying “Don’t ask why,” or “Look up the

grammar book for yourself.” When students are trying to internalize his explanation or thinking about the right words to replace with the wrong one, he usually waits patiently and if students seem to have a difficulty in finding answers, he would provide more suggestions. Copying down whatever teachers wrote down on the blackboard, I used to wonder why people need teachers when they learn a certain subject or skill. If the ultimate purpose is to gain knowledge or information, consulting books or searching the Internet seems a much more time-efficient and effective way, especially in this technologically developed society. People learn attitudes towards others through interacting with teachers and gain the general pictures of the adult ideas to follow. Moreover, basically, students cannot choose which teachers they have, and the reverse is also true. Even though this is the case, as a student myself, if I could have a good relationship and time with teachers and find the ones who inspire me, it would be a greater pleasure than getting a well-paid job or getting a high TOEIC score.

Bio: Kaori Kijima is a fourth year student in the English Department and plans to be a university teacher after doing graduate studies. Collections Note: A prize goes to the person who finds the most misstakes in this issue (you get to be the official proof-reader of the next issue!) lol


KANDA CLUB CORNER Hula Club Interview By Nick Yates and Ami Sato

NICK: Could you give me some

background information on the Hula

Club?

AMI: Ok, There are about 50 people in

the Hula Club now because many

freshman students joined our club. The

Hula Club was established last

September and the actual name of this

club is Hoa Aloha.

NICK: What type of club is the Hula

Club?

AMI: The club is full of energetic and

earnest members - and we’re also

friendly.

NICK: How many times a week do you

practice and where do you practice?

AMI: There are two practices, one being

compulsory and one is optional. The

compulsory practice is on Mondays and

the other is we can go if we want to go

Wednesdays and Fridays. We can go

three times a week.

NICK: What about shows? What shows

do you perform at?

AMI: Makuhari-charity and in the

courtyard in front of La Paz.

NICK: Why did you join the Hula Club?


AMI: I actually hated dancing in high

school and junior high school because I

have no sense of dancing and no sense

of rhythm but I wanted to try dancing.

Hula is a kind of very slow dance so I

thought I might do that. So I joined the

club and my thoughts were right. Even I

can do that!

NICK: What things do you like about the

Hula Club?

AMI: I feel happy when I learn one song,

when I master one song. I feel

confident and a sense of achievement. I

like those times.

NICK: What’s your no.1 most

memorable experience from the Hula

Club?

AMI: It was our first show last

December and we danced in front of La

Paz. It was my first time to dance in

front of people. I felt it was a very long

time while I was dancing and before I

danced, I was very nervous. But it was a

very fun experience for me.

NICK: And how many people danced at

that show?

AMI: About 25 people, I think. We

danced to 3 songs at that time, and I

danced in two of them.

NICK: After graduating from KUIS, will

you continue to hula dance?

AMI: Yes, because hula makes me

relaxed and dancing hula is my favorite

past time. For example, even when I

am frustrated, my mind becomes calm

while I am dancing hula. So after I

graduate, I’d like to continue hula.

NICK: Is the Hula Club looking for new

members and if so, who should join the

Hula Club?

AMI: Anyone can join us but many

people belong to the Hula Club already

so maybe we need to stop entry at busy

times - like before the show. But after

the show we can accept new members.

We are looking forward to new

members joining.

NICK: How would other people contact

the Hula Club?

AMI: If you want to join us, contact us.

If you know one of the members, try to

contact them. But on Mondays we

always practice at the fitness club. So

please come and see us.

Call for future Kanda Club Corner

interviews: Would you like your club

to be interviewed? Would you like to

collaborate and write the interview? If

interested, please email

[email protected]

Critically Thinking Students “Respectfully” Challenge a US Presidential Candidate Op-Ed Tim Murphey and Chris Stillwell On June 20th Mike Huckabee, a recent candidate for the Republican US 2008 election (and possibly in line for a vice presidential slot with McCain as we write), came to KUIS to give a 50-minute presentation and address some important issues. At the end of his smoothly delivered and often convincing talk, there was time for six or seven questions from university students. Three questions in particular were provocative and showed that KUIS students, while still respectful, are not just passively accepting of any argument from above. They asked directly about the areas in which Mr. Huckabee seemed most incongruent on his web page and in his speech: US gun control, CO2 emissions and the Kyoto Protocol, and same sex marriages. While we find that Mr. Huckabee had some excellent ideas about the importance of creativity in education and prevention in health care, he seemed to lack a vision concerning gun control and crime prevention. Though he persuasively showed in health issues that prevention of sickness through programs that reduce overeating, under-exercising, and smoking is much wiser and more economically justified than treatment and cure, he applied a twisted variation on this sort of thinking to gun control, insisting that average citizens need guns to protect themselves from criminals. In his

worldview, strong gun laws cause would-be muggers to have second thoughts before attacking anyone, because of the possibility that their victims might have guns of their own. (For a more lucid and rational argument concerning gun control, see http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ZJ5J-GTTL/guns.htm) At the beginning of his speech, Mr. Huckabee claimed not to be interested in ‘horizontal’ politics of left-vs.-right, Democrat vs. Republican, liberal vs. conservative. However, when faced with a question about the US’s environmental record, he abandoned that stance in a hurry. At the students’ microphone, Shota Mito noted how the US is among the worst with regard to CO2 emissions and has also failed to sign the Kyoto Protocol, asking how the US might become a leader in helping to reduce global warming and environmental pollution. Here was an opportunity to speak up for all humanity, but Mr. Huckabee resorted to nitpicking over which country currently has the worst record for pollution, followed by a gratuitous shot at Al Gore in reference to alleged increases in his home electric bill. This did not seem to reflect the ‘veritical’ politics of ‘lifting people up’ that Mr. Huckabee had previously extolled. Rather than taking a stand that could have inspired many in the audience, he insisted on the right of the US to do damn well what it pleases.


Finally, a young exchange student was brave enough to question Mr. Huckabee on his stand against same-sex marriage. Here Mr. Huckabee lost his footing on the proverbial slippery slope by putting his foot in his mouth with inappropriate examples and arguments, but he didn’t seem to mind - indeed, he seemed to take pleasure in baiting his questioner by revisiting his analogy of a man marrying his dog. Again, one wonders who exactly is being lifted up by this sort of politics. While we found him personable and convincing to a great degree, we regret this power is being put to use in support of poorly thought out consequences with a conventional discourse which seems to be his party’s rather than his own. We fear in some regards he has become an avatar of his own politics and rhetoric. We dare say that we were very proud of KUIS students for addressing important issues and respectfully challenging a one-time US presidential candidate. Such critical thinking and activism may well become a trait of KUIS students, and through them the world a better place.

Coming in the next edition of PeerSpectives

Reflections on peer observations from several teams.

Videoing student conversations: options and opportunities

“If Harvard can do it, so can we…” Collaborating for a

Sustainable Campus

By Richard Allen

You and I are trustees. Nothing belongs to us personally. The resources of our planet have been entrusted to every one of us together. Like good bank trustees, we are expected not to squander these resources but to invest them wisely for our beneficiaries: the rest of life, especially the generations to come.

The trust includes not only the lives and natural resources of the planet, but our inner resources as well. This has practical implications. We can lessen our potentially exhausting impact on the earth by simplifying our desires and demands. Simplicity is the key to trusteeship. (Easaran, 2007)

Do little things sometimes bug you? Maybe ‘bug’ isn’t the right word there, I suppose ‘puzzle’ or ‘confuse’ would also fit with the question I’m trying to ask. And I ask this question because I often have conversations with colleagues about things we don’t really understand. For example, have you ever wondered why the banks close at 3pm when we don’t finish work until 5? Or why it’s necessary for mini-dogs to have a better clothes wardrobe than we do? Or why the bin outside your office says ‘combustibles’ but at the same time this is the place where you’re supposed to throw your used plastic bottle?


The last question is my own personal, what shall we call it, ‘baffler.’ I don’t know why but having spent three and a half years at KUIS, I only realized this about a year ago. As an ex-Geography teacher in the UK (with the dodgy shirts and leather padded jumpers to prove it), I arrived at KUIS with a lot of experience of what some could describe as ‘harking on about the environment’, though I would prefer to call it ‘spreading the message about sustainability and sustainable development.’ I remember in my first or second ELI general meeting, in that deadly moment of silence just after the boss has asked “Is there any other business?” surprising myself by breaking the unwritten code of silence and actually asking “What are we doing about recycling paper?” I've since come to realize that maybe there are better ways to promote sustainability than to ask questions at the end of long meetings and that's spurred me on to look at sustainability issues in other ways, which brings me to the focus of this paper. I wanted to work with students to investigate sustainability at KUIS as a means to help students learn from their peers (students, faculty, staff, local communities) whilst using English. In return, I suppose I wanted to find some simple ways that we could have a positive and lasting impact in our community at KUIS, which would in turn reap benefits on a bigger scale. I also really wanted to find out why those bottles were in that bin! So, I tried a few things. With another teacher we asked students whether they would be happy to have a few meetings with student group leaders to

discuss sustainability and partnerships at KUIS. We found out a lot in a short time (e.g. KUIS has groups like Dawn that promote gender equality in the Philippines) but ultimately the meetings dropped off and that old gem, ‘lack of time’ kept on rearing it’s ugly head. So, a change of track was needed and that change involved not creating groups outside of class time, but using class time to investigate these issues. The meetings that we had were really useful preparation for this- they gave me some good background knowledge about how things work here (e.g. I found out about the power of the sempei-kohei relationships and also about the somewhat stereotypical Japanese love of order in everything)! The process also led me to some background reading, including work by Leith Sharp, who has made a huge contribution to promoting sustainability issues at Harvard University (I figured if they did it why can’t we?). The UNESCO Bangkok Conference in 2007 was also a huge inspiration, with speakers from universities around the world explaining their efforts to model the modes of sustainability for their students in a strong display of ‘practising what they preach.’ In particular, speakers like Stephen Toope from the University of British Columbia introduced a wide range of initiatives that are improving sustainability at his university. Follow-up research at a Higher Education for Sustainable Development Conference in Iwate in December of the same year showed me that many Japanese universities are also involved in similar campaigns. If it was good enough for Harvard, UBC and


Waseda, then KUIS was good enough for it! So how was teaching and learning for a sustainable campus incorporated into the curriculum and what have the results of this been up to now? With my Freshman English class, to begin with we looked at ecological footprints. We watched Morgan Spurlock (Yes, he of ‘Supersize Me’ fame) take two NY Bronx-dwellers with footprints of 12.5 planets to ‘Dancing Rabbit,’ an eco-friendly community in Arkansas, to see if 30 days living a minimum-impact lifestyle would convert them (you’ll have to watch to find out!) Students then checked their own footprints and found that on average they needed 2.5 – 3 planets to maintain their current lifestyles. The footprint focused on different areas including carbon, food, housing and goods and services. Students then saw a slideshow of the efforts to green the campus at Universiti Sains Malaysia (organized by a friend, Hamoon Khelgat-Doost) and then used this to discuss what is already happening at KUIS, what would be easy to introduce here and what would be difficult to introduce. We then focused in on Harvard. I adapted a paper from Leith Sharp (2003) for them, focusing in on a survey sent to 2000 students on campus. We looked at the survey which was created by students (a fine example of peering in itself) and was made up of 10 questions relating to students’ attitudes towards sustainability issues on campus. Our class divided into three larger groups and in pairs interpreted results from three questions which they would then share with the others in smaller groups of three. In action-log feedback

all students without fail rated this activity positively in terms of interest, usefulness and challenge. This was an important activity as it gave us a chance to discuss question formation (what makes a good or bad research question) as well as providing a model for students to use when they would write up their own results from their surveys. Students then went about creating their own surveys. There was a lot of discussion as a class in the early stages about the communities of people that we could ask (e.g. the cleaning staff) and the areas that we could focus on (e.g. paper recycling). There was also discussion about the ethical side of undertaking research. The other thing that was happening at this time was students learning how to administer web-based questionnaires using SurveyMonkey, which was challenging and interesting for them. We decided that for each group of four, we would create two surveys, one for students and one for teachers. Students were given time to write the surveys and then pilot with other groups in our class before sending them to me to put on a blog. At the same time, I was busy asking seven of my fellow teachers of Freshman English (FE) students if they would be OK with our groups visiting their class to administer the surveys. This took some organizing as it had to be in the computer rooms, but it got sorted. I also asked the other Freshman teachers if our class could email their classes asking them to take part in the survey. We were hoping that by doing this we would increase each group’s potential response total to a maximum of around 60 students (covering all


fifteen FE classes). I was also hoping that students would find out about the differences in effectiveness between collecting data on-site and collecting data by email. Unfortunately due to issues relating to data privacy and time, we had to drop this part of the research but we still were left with responses from about 200 students and some teachers. The peer part of this activity was very interesting. Students told me that they were the most nervous they’d been all semester when visiting the other classes to administer the surveys. They also decided to help each other by taking four students from another group to support them when visiting the classes. The first group went out on Monday 30th June to visit another class. I had promised teachers that the survey would only take 10 – 15 minutes so when they still weren’t back after half an hour, alarm bells started ringing. I waited another 10 minutes and then went to look for them, only to find them on their way back to class. When they got back they shared stories of why things had taken so long, including organizational and language barriers. Those yet to do their surveys listened intently and that evening and the next day I received some drastically revised surveys to replace the ones already on the blog. One unexpected outcome was that the other teacher told me that his students had been blown away by the high level of English our class had used, so much so that one of his students was reduced to tears! (Something to think about for next time when encouraging peer collaboration in class perhaps.) After all the visits, the students were given three lessons to turn the data into

a report and a presentation. They did an amazing job. Due to the fact that they had used SurveyMonkey, most of the results were available to them in graph format so they had no need to make a Powerpoint. The presentations all scored 90% or above and the reports, having been checked internally by their group and by staff at the Writing Centre, were of a high quality. I have included four excerpts from four separate reports below: 1) Prior Learning “We asked the students whether they had ever learned about environmental problems such as global warming, acid rain, deforestation, desertification or not. Almost all the students had learned about global warming. 3/5 of students had learned about acid rain, and less than half of them had learned about deforestation and desertification.”

2) Plastic Bags

“…from the data we found a very interesting result. Although there are interested in the environment, many students don’t take action for this. When we asked them how often they refuse a plastic bag, no one answered “always”. About 70% of students answered “sometimes”, and what we were surprised was that there were over 20% of students said “not often” or “never”. We think “sometimes” is not enough, because they may be taking plastic bags unnecessarily.”

3) Teacher Action

“According to our survey, we learned that two teachers are interested in the


environment. Actually, they contribute a lot to helping the environment. We also found that some questions were divided into two opinions. We think that it is from difference of the hometowns, so we have to survey a lot more people from different countries. Situation and motivation are different in each country, so we should learn the situation and motivation without Japan to know real situation of concern about environment. In addition, we also thought the reality that it might be difficult for environment to coexistent with the economy, but there are a lot of things that we can do from now. It is also reality. We all have to know this reality and take some action.” 4) Student Action “This is the survey about environment for KUIS students. According to this survey, 60% of the students recycle plastic bottles and every city has the laws of classifying rubbish. They classify into 4 to 6 different kinds. When they go out somewhere, over a half of students bring their own drinks from their house. We can see that they are quite positive to do something good for environment; however, most of them feel pessimistic about their future environment. In conclusion, KUIS students should realize they are related to the environment directly. They can change the world of tomorrow.”

Some interesting results: the overall feeling I got from presentations and reports is that although there is interest in sustainability, there is a lot more that people could be doing. Sharp (2003) says behaviourial change is key to creating a sustainable campus but

that the brain is designed to work on auto-drive (non-conscious processing) much of the time.

The problem that this creates for any initiative that is trying to catalyze change, is that we must compete to secure limited conscious reserves from individuals who have already allocated theirs to other priorities. Furthermore, we must succeed in replacing behaviors that are largely nonconsciously driven with new nonconsciously driven behaviors. This means that somehow we have to make a change in behavior so easy that it requires no conscious effort as quickly as possible, or else we risk losing the interest and participation of the individual. (2003,14)

The next big challenge in creating a sustainable campus will be to try to collectively take our brains out of snooze mode (auto-drive) and make us think about our everyday actions and their impacts on the sustainability of the campus. I am fortunate enough to teach about sustainability in my EISO course, so the plan is to show next semester’s EISO students the data summarized in our Freshman English students’ reports and video presentations and to set them about the task of creating the “behaviourial change” that Leith talks about. I have no idea what will happen, but that’s why teaching is exciting and motivating for me again right now. It’s really rewarding when students say “KUIS students should realize they are related to the environment directly. They can change the world of tomorrow” and when 100% of them say they would like to do more inter-class activities


(peering) in an end of semester survey. However, I still want to know why those plastic bottles go in that bloody bin!

Visitors to our classes. References Eswaran, E. (2005) “Words to Live By: A Daily Guide to Leading an Exceptional Life.” Nilgiri Press. Khelgat-Doost (2007) Institution of Higher Education and Partnerships in Education for Sustainable Development; Case study of Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Penang retrieved on 09/07/08 from http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/apeid/Conference/11thConference/papers/1A2_Hamoon_Khelgat-Doost.pdf Sharp, L. (2003) The Harvard Green Campus Initiative - An Overview 2000-2003 retrieved on 09/07/08 from www.greencampus.harvard.edu Toope, S. (2007) Sustainability, Social Change & the Role of Universities retrieved 09/07/08 from http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/apeid/Conference/11thConference/papers/UNESCO-APEID_Raja_Roy_Singh_Lecture.pdf To all of the hard-working, enthusiastic students in FE-9 and also to all the

teachers and students that helped us with our research – “Thanks!”

Coming Soon! The PEERSPECTIVES WEB PAGE with places for you to respond to articles and comment on events, and praise peers profusely.

The Efficiency Column

Do you have suggestions for improving the way we work, teach, or learn? Do you just like to rant? Do you sometimes feel a bit overloaded? Write for the Efficiency Column! And help us all be more efficient. Disclaimer: Each author’s content and ranting is her or his own and not necessarily that of PeerSpectives, KUIS, their relatives, those from the same country or office, or this planet.

Ye olde Standard Disclamer: The opinions and views expressed in PeerSpectives do not necessarily reflect those o the editors nor of KUIS (and maybe not even of the authors – after all people change their minds all the time!) Nevertheless, we hope you enjoy!

itâ€™s summertime! safe travels and adventures to all!

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